Paper-file



(No Model.)

A. B. SHERWOOD.

.PAPER FILE. No. 368,498. Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

"IM I 2O all NITED STATES Arai reich.

ALEXANDER B. SHERWOOD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,498, dated August 16. 1857- Appncanon inea May 27, les?. serial No. 239,523. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER B. SEER4 WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Paper-Files; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My improvement relates to paperiiles of the kind shown, described, and claimed in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 352,664, granted to me November 16, 1886.

In papersiiles of this character the transferwires are not moved for purposes of iiling papers, but the ling is done through a permanent space which intervenes between the ends of the transfer-wires and the receiving-wires, the paperbeing passed through the space into a punch by which it is properly punctured, being then withdrawn until the holes co incide with the receiving-Wires, when it is allowed to pass down upon the latter.

From time to time it becomes necessary to remove from the file the whole mass of accumulated papers,to be filed away permanently; and for this purpose provision must be made for removing the transfenwires from their normal position, so that the accumulated papers may be readily lifted off the receiving- Wires. One way of mounting the transferwires to permit this operation is shown and described in my Letters Patent above referred to. Still another way forms the subject of an application for a patent by myself, now pending; and my present application relates to a third way of accomplishing the same end, which is believed to have certain advantages over the other two. By the construction shown in my Letters Patent, above referred to, the removal ofthe transfer-wires from their normal position in alignment with the receiving-wires is effected by tipping them backward upon the pivoted connections by which they are secured to the base.

In my pending application the transferwires are mounted in vertical sockets on the base and held by thumb-screws, and when it becomes desirable to unload the file the thumbscrews are loosened and the transferwires lifted out. By my present invention the transferwires are so mounted as to have a forward and back sliding movement,and means are provided by which they may be iirmly secured in their normal position in alignment with the receiving-wires.

My invention consists in the mechanism, hereinafter described and claimed, by which this result is accomplished. l

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan viewof the metallic parts of my letter-file provided with my present improvement, a portion of one of the transfer-wires being broken away to show the parts below; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same mounted upon the base; Fig. 3, a plan view showing the device which constitutes my present improvement in its normal position for ling; Fig. et, a plan view of the same device with the slide extended, and Fig. 5 a cross-section on theline 5 5 of Fig. 3, viewed in the direction of the arrows.`

A is the base, B the receiving-wires, C the arched transfer-wires, and D the punch interposed between the transfer-wires and receiv ing-wires, all these parts being arranged with relation to each other in the manner shown, described, and claimed in my aforesaid Letters Patent, except as to the feature of adjustably mounting the transfer-wires upon the base,which constitutes my present invention, and the description of which is as follows:

The metal frame E, upon which the various operative parts are mounted, is provided with a raised guide, t, at each side extending from the punching device to the end. On the outside of each raised guide the frame E is provided witha recess, s.v

F is a metal slide provided at its outer end with a raised socket, r, into which the transfer-Wire is inserted, and within which it is rigidly secured. The slide F is hollowed upon its under side to iit over the guide t, and is provided at its forwardouter corner with a lug, g, to enter the recess s and limit the forward and backmovement of the slide. The slide F is provided with a slot, p,through its upper face, and is held in place upon the guide t by means of a thumb-screw, o, passing through the slot and entering the guide t.

When it is desired to unload the file, the thumb-screws o are slightly loosened,the plates F slid backward to the limit ofthe recess s, which brings the plates into the position shown in Fig. 4, and the upper endsl of the transfer-wires back against the punch D, and

hence ont of the way. After unloading the ile the plates F are slid forward to the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, which restores the transfer-Wires to their normal position,and the thumb-screws tightened, when the device is again in positionA for filing. y

An essential requisite of my present improvement is that the sliding plate upon which the transfer-wire is mounted shall be provided with a fastening device which will permit it to be firmly secured in its normal position. The thumb-screw shown will accomplish this purpose, and will also permit the plate to be firmly flxedin any of the other positions that it may assume,which,however, is not necessary. Therefore any fastening means which would serve firmly to secure the plate in the first-named position only would be the mechanical equivalent of the thumb-screw.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. In a paper-file in which the transferwires are normally in alignment with the receiving-wires and separated therefrom by a permanent 'narrow space, the device for mounting the transfer -wires upon the base and permitting them to be moved at will from their normal position for unloading the le,

comprising,in combination,a sliding plate, to which the transfer wire is rigidly fixed, a guide upon the base for the sliding plate, and a fastening device, substantially as described, for firmly securing the transfer-Wire' in its normal position.

2. In a paper-file, the eombination,with the metal frame E, provided with a guide, t, and recess s, of the slotted plate F, carrying the transfer-wire and sliding upon the guide t, and provided with a lug, q, entering the recess s, and the thumb-screw o,passing through the slot in the plate and entering the guide t, substantially as described.

ALEXANDERV B. SHERWOOD.

In presence of J W. DYRENFORTH, FRED T. DOX. 

